


It Began In Kanto

by ValkerieRupert



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Autism, Autism Spectrum, Colonization, Major Character Injury, Nonbinary Character, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-01 23:58:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17253803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkerieRupert/pseuds/ValkerieRupert
Summary: My name is Steven Stone. I'm twenty-eight years old. I'm the Pokémon Champion of the Hoenn League. I'm currently stuck in an underwater tunnel in need of medical attention that I'm probably not going to get in time.How did I get myself into this situation?Well, it's a long story.





	1. Introduction

In a world where magical beasts with almost godlike powers roam free, how do humans manage to be on top when they are so completely powerless?

The answer is simple. Pokémon  _ let  _ humans be the dominant species. Why? Well, because it benefits them. Humans have the ability to create food, homes, and medical care for Pokémon, as well as creating a bond with them. As long as the dominance of humans continues to benefit Pokémon more than it harms them, humans will continue to remain on top.

Isn’t that amazing? Pokémon could overthrow us at any time, but we humans manage to keep them from doing so by simply showing them common decency, by giving them food and shelter and helping them when they need it, and in turn, they do so much to help us. If you give a Pokémon just the smallest amount of help, enough to demonstrate that complying with your requests will benefit them by getting them food and shelter, they will do so much to help you.

We have an amazing system that allows us to work side-by-side with so many wonderful Pokémon, but no system is without flaw. Our current system has many flaws, but the most major one (or at least the one that has affected me most) is this:

Any random person can show basic kindness to their Pokémon and, in the same way that Trainers use their Pokémon for the power of good, use their Pokémon to hurt people.

You need a license to own a Pokémon, yes, but that’s it, and you can get such a license before you’re even old enough to talk if your parents do the paperwork for you. You don’t even have to do anything to get the license -- you just apply to the League for one and they check your criminal record, and if you’re clean they give it to you. You need the same level of qualifications to be allowed to have a Zigzagoon in your backyard as you do to have complete control over godlike beings.

That is the fatal flaw in our system.

In my case, rather literally.

I suppose I ought to assume a more positive attitude. It’s not technically fatal, not as such, because I’m technically not dead.

I  _ am,  _ however, stuck in an underground tunnel in need of medical attention, medical attention which I am most likely not going to get any time soon because less than five percent of the population is capable of opening this tunnel, and most of those people are busy fighting their own battles.

How did this happen?

Well, to make a long story short, it started with an autistic preteen who single-handedly defeated a powerful gang of criminals by accident.

 

I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself here. I ought to tell you the basics.

My name is Steven Stone, and I’m a twenty-eight-year-old man. I live in Mossdeep City in the Hoenn region, and I’m currently the Hoenn League Champion.

My father, Joseph Stone, is the head of the Devon company, which makes me the heir to said company. When my father retires and I am forced to devote myself to Devon full-time, I am leaving the role of Champion to my romantic partner Wallace. 

Wallace was the Champion for a short time a few years ago, defeating me shortly after I first gained the title, but they decided that the role of Champion was not one they were ready for and so they stepped down and gave me back the title. Wallace is a Sootopolitan nonbinary person who is currently working as the Gym Leader of Sootopolis City, a job they worked very hard to get for around ten years before they finally took the job from their mentor Juan.

Juan is a Sootopolitan man and the former Gym Leader of Sootopolis City, and also Wallace’s mentor. I’m not exactly sure what his relationship with them is -- I know they have a very close bond, but that’s it. I don’t think they are related by blood, because they have different surnames and don’t look alike, but I may well be wrong on that assumption.

Juan and Wallace are quite possibly the only two people that could save my life at the moment. They’re both in this tunnel with me, and if anybody’s going to be able to get me out, it’s one of them.

But that’s beside the point. I should get on with how this all happened.

Now, I believe I left off when I was talking about the autistic preteen who single-handedly defeated a powerful gang of criminals by accident.

 

When I say “by accident”, I mean that he had no intention of defeating the gang. He merely wanted to become the Kanto Pokémon League Champion; the criminals repeatedly interrupted his journey by chance, and he defeated them because they were in his way. That boy was eleven years old when he was crowned Kanto Champion (though he later gave up the title to explore Mt. Silver), and his name was Red.

The gang was called Team Rocket.

Team Rocket tried to rebrand themselves in Johto three years later, but the attempt failed without the support of their leader Giovanni, and they were defeated by another preteen. 

Why am I telling you all of this? The answer is simple: because it provides backstory that will help explain the actions of others, which in turn is necessary to explain how I got in this tunnel.

Now, when people are left defeated and unsure of what to do, what do they do?

The answer varies from person to person; however, for the members of Team Rocket that didn’t leave after Giovanni did or after they were defeated a second time, the answer was that they found someone to blame.

In this case, they chose to blame the Hoenn region.

Not the region as a whole; that would never work out. The vast majority of Hoenn’s population, myself included, were originally from Kanto or Johto, with a smaller minority being Unovan, Kalosian, Alolan, or Sinnohan. The reason for this is that when the Kantonese explorers first “discovered” Hoenn, they declared the land as “uninhabited” and thus claimed it as their own. The land as a whole was actually inhabited by a group of indigenous Dragon-type Trainers, and the islands near the land that would later be classified as Western Hoenn were inhabited by the indigenous Sootopolitans, but if the Kantonese people had acknowledged that then the colonization (or, as Wallace and Juan prefer to call it, the invasion) would never have happened.

Anyway, the colonization led to Hoenn having a tight-knit relationship with Kanto and Johto, and Team Rocket as such had multiple allies located in various parts of Hoenn. They couldn’t risk hurting these allies, not if they were going to make an ambitious move, and their plan was certainly ambitious.

So, they targeted Sootopolis City.


	2. Chapter 2

It was four o’clock in the morning when I was abruptly awoken by the ringing of my PokéNav Plus.

“Steven?” asked Wallace, their ever-maintained professional voice starting to break.

“Wallace, why are you calling?” I asked.

“I think it’s not quite so early in Kanto,” they explained. “And I just got a call from a Kantonese person that was of such an urgent manner that I felt I couldn’t wait until sunrise. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

I sighed into the device. “I’m so tired right now that I almost don’t want to go to Sootopolis to see you.”

“I’m tired and in a panic, so I don’t particularly want you to come either.”

“I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“Thank you so much, I owe you my life.”

I slowly got out of bed and made myself some coffee so that I could be awake enough to function. It was a full twenty minutes before I was properly awake. I considered making breakfast before I left, but I decided not to. I had said I would be there at four-thirty, and I now had ten minutes left. It would be enough time for Metagross to take me to Sootopolis, but not enough to make food and eat it as well. 

When I flew over to Wallace’s house, I found to my surprise that they were still wearing their turquoise Milotic pajamas, and also that I could smell food cooking.

“I knew you wouldn’t bother to eat before coming,” they explained. “So I decided to make something while I waited to calm my nerves. It should be ready in a few minutes.”

They sat down at the table, and I did so as well. “You didn’t quite finish getting dressed, I see.”

I blushed; I was still wearing my pajamas, which were grey with Metagross patterns on them, but on top, I was wearing my signature charcoal-colored jacket, the one with metal cuffs on the ends of the sleeves. My Mega Stickpin was still pinned to it. Normally I would get fully dressed but there hadn’t been enough time this morning, and I hadn’t wanted to leave the jacket at home. As an autistic person, the weight of the metal cuffs was a pleasant sensory experience and by this point, I had gotten so used to the pressure that leaving the house without it could feel disorienting and uncomfortable.

“I don’t like to leave home without it,” I explained. “So what is the problem?”

“I received some threatening phone calls from Kantonese men claiming to be part of Team Rocket.”

I gulped. “What did they say?”

“That Sootopolis City has three days to surrender itself or Team Rocket will overtake it by force.”

I found myself biting the inside of my cheek. “You’re not going to surrender, are you? It’s your choice, as Gym Leader.”

“Of course not. I don’t know if we can fight them ourselves, though.”

“I’ll schedule a meeting later today,” I decided. “With the Elite Four. As the main decision-makers of the region, they can help by sending reinforcements to Sootopolis. You shall have to come, of course, and Juan ought to as well; the more Sootopolitan representatives we can have, the better. Is there anyone else who can represent Sootopolis?” 

“Not that I’m aware of,” they answered. “But I will let you know if I think of anyone.”

They pulled me towards them, wrapping me into a hug. “Thank you so much, Steven…”

They moved closer to me and, slowly, pulled me into a kiss.

 

“So? Why don’t you just  _ leave?” _

I forced myself not to raise my voice with annoyance at Glacia’s disrespectful tone. “Wallace, Juan,” I said. “Why don’t one of you two explain to Glacia why you aren’t simply choosing to evacuate the city? I’m sure one of you could explain it better than I could.”

Juan was the first to speak. “I need to go to the bathroom,” he explained in a frustrated tone before standing up and walking outside. The bathrooms in Ever Grande actually were in the opposite direction, and normally I would have corrected him but from the redness in his face, I could tell that being outside for a bit was much closer than a bathroom to what he actually needed.

Wallace, of course, couldn’t exactly leave to vent out their frustration now that Juan was gone, so they sighed aloud. “As I have stated numerous times in this meeting already,” they said. “Sootopolis City is of great cultural significance and value to indigenous Sootopolitans. The citizens have been made aware of the danger and many have chosen to leave already; however, if some skilled Trainers want to fight for their culture, that is their choice.”

“I know it's their choice,” continued Glacia. “But why should we have to send Hoennian soldiers in to defend you when you are perfectly capable of leaving?”

“Culture is very important,” cut in Phoebe. “I mean, we shouldn't let their culture be destroyed if we can help it.”

“Hmm,” said Glacia. “Steven, what do you think?”

“I think we should defend Sootopolis; after all, it is part of Hoenn.”

“We can't afford it,” she replied automatically. “You're already preparing to fight, so it is clear to me that you don't need our help.”

“Is that so?” I asked. “Would you not be willing to take the extra caution to protect your League Champion?”

Wallace turned to face me, their expression conveying confusion. “Huh?”

“Of course,” I explained. “I will be among the Sootopolitans fighting for Sootopolis. I would never be able to forgive myself if my beloved partner was killed while I stayed safe in Mossdeep.”

“Steven…” they breathed.

Glacia sighed. “I suppose, if you insist. But it will be a small army comprised mostly of personal volunteers.”

“Umm…” murmured Phoebe. “If Steven is defending Sootopolis, even though he's not Sootopolitan, than so am I.”

Wallace looked taken aback. “You are aware of the risk involved, are you not?”

“Of course I am. You guys had better fight to save Alola sometime to make up for it though.”

Sidney cleared his throat. “If Pho is in, then I'm in.”

“How brave…” murmured Wallace. “Thank you both so much for your bravery. I cannot begin to repay you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pure Originshipping fluff and has little to no actual bearing on the plot of this story, so if you came here for the plot and aren't into Originshipping then you can just skip this chapter and read the next one

I spent the rest of the day at Wallace’s house, both to help them plan a defense and as moral support. It was early evening, around four or five, when I came up with an idea. “Since I'm going to have to stay here overnight when they come, perhaps I ought to stay over until then as well?”

They considered this. “Good idea. You ought to go and collect some of your possessions now.” 

I nodded in agreement. “I'll be back soon.”

I walked outside and sent out my Metagross, who promptly flew me to Mossdeep. Within ten minutes I was at my house.

The hardest part, I remember this clearly, was choosing what to bring. As much as I would have loved to bring my stone collection, I didn't want it to be damaged, so I brought only my Mega Stickpin and the few Mega Stones I could actually use. I took a few changes of clothes, some small fidget toys that could fit in my pocket, all of my Pokémon, and a first aid kit. I packed these items into a backpack and flew back to Wallace’s home.

Once I was there, I opened the backpack and started to arrange which items would be carried in my pockets while the others remained in my backpack. The clothes and first aid kit, obviously, had no hope of fitting in my pockets, but I wanted to be able to access some items quickly in an emergency. The Mega Stones were placed in the Poké Balls of the Pokémon that could use them. I decided my three main Pokémon -- Metagross, Aggron, and Skarmory -- would be on me at all times, while the others could stay in my backpack.

Wallace snickered. “Does  _ everything  _ have to be about Steel-types?” they asked as they stared at the Skarmory-themed backpack. 

I blushed. “Well, I want my backpack to look like somebody I truly love, but they don't sell bags with your face on them.”

“Touché.”

 

We spent the next two days anxiously awaiting the attack and carefully planning our defense. By the third evening, Wallace seemed almost sick from worry. “We ought to go to bed early tonight so that we are prepared for tomorrow,” I suggested. 

They nodded. “I've been too anxious to sleep properly. I'm ready to fall asleep now.”

“There's one thing I'd like to do first,” I said, and I felt my heart speed up.

 

What I did next involved four stones. 

The first was myself, Steven Stone.

The second was the Mega Stone I anxiously fidgeted with in my pocket.

“Since you need all the help you can get,” I explained, holding it out to them. “I've decided to give you this Gyaradosite.”

“Thank you,” they muttered. “But now I have to find a Key Stone on short notice.”

That was the third stone. 

My heart was racing uncontrollably as I reached into my pocket. In my closed fist I gripped a small metal ring with a Key Stone embedded in the metal. Beads of sweat dripped down my face as my heart pounded in my chest.

“Wallace…” I muttered quietly. Then in one swift movement, I dropped to one knee and held the ring out to them. “Wallace, I've been thinking about this for a while, but now that we might die tomorrow...Will you be my spouse?”

The fourth stone was Wallace Stone.

They blushed a deep crimson. “Steven…” they breathed, clearly in shock. 

Slowly, they took the ring and slid it onto their ring finger. “It's so beautiful…Of course, I'll be your spouse. We won't be able to start planning the ceremony until after this is over, but if we both survive...Yes. I will marry you.”

“Thank you so much,” I muttered, rising back to a standing position. “I will be the best husband I can be.”

My heart continued to race and I realized I would probably be too excited to sleep.

“I have to go and tell Juan,” they muttered. “He's been suggesting I propose for a while now.”

“Just call him,” I suggested. “If you go over to his house, we'll get less time to rest.”

They nodded, taking out their PokéNav Plus and holding it to their ear. “Juan? ...No, don't worry, it's not Team Rocket… He proposed to me, Juan.”

Juan said something and their face formed a deadpan expression. “No. No, I'm not talking about Steven. I'm talking about Ali. My niece’s Altaria dropped down on one knee, asked me to marry him, and gave me a ring.  _ Yes I'm talking about Steven!” _

I laughed slightly. The two continued talking for a few minutes before Wallace hung up. “He's really happy for us.”

_ “I'm  _ really happy for us,” I replied, blushing. “I never thought we would really reach this moment.”

They said nothing, but they smiled, and I could tell from their eyes they were genuinely happy. For just a second, I forgot all about the danger that would await us come morning. That second felt like it could last forever.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day I awoke to find Wallace shaking me roughly. “Wake up!” they hissed. “They're here!”

Normally I have to drink a lot of coffee in order to really be awake in the morning, but when I saw the terrified look on their face my body produced its own caffeine. Still wearing the suit I had gone to bed in, I jumped up, grabbed my backpack and my jacket, and ran outside.

The black-clad Team Rocket grunts were everywhere. We were outnumbered. We hadn't prepared for this.

I looked around as I struggled to put my jacket on while still holding my backpack. Juan was to my right, his Kingdra already defending him; Phoebe and Sidney were busy dealing with four grunts between them. I saw a few men advancing towards me and instinctively I sent out my Metagross. “Metagross, use Protect!” I commanded. I just needed to stall for time until I could think of a strategy. 

One of the men sent out an Arcanine and I knew I was in trouble. Metagross’s Protect could only last so long. In an attempt to lengthen the amount of time we had, I took out my Mega Stickpin.

Metagross started to glow in a white light and I knew I still had a chance. Just as the shield from Metagross’s Protect started to fade, a well-timed Hydro Pump from Wallace's Milotic knocked the Arcanine into the water.

The other men sent out their Pokémon, and to my surprise, they were all low-level Voltorb. The Voltorb made no attempt to attack me, however, and simply levitated past me. As Juan and Wallace fought with other Team Rocket members beside me, I turned to follow them. 

They were heading towards the Pokémon Centre.

Instantly I realized. There was only one possible strategy that would involve that many Voltorb.

There would be innocent Pokémon in that Pokémon Centre.

Without thinking I ran ahead of the Voltorb, into the Pokémon Centre. The place was teeming with Pokémon, younger ones that were too small to fight but too young to safely be evacuated from Sootopolis. From the second I came in I knew I couldn’t possibly hope to save all of them, but I also knew I was going to try.

“Everybody out!” I commanded, trying my best to sound confident. “It’s an emergency!”

A few Pokémon started to run outside on my command, maybe half of them, but the other half still didn’t trust me enough to leave. I knelt down and grabbed a young Cleffa, half-dropping and half-throwing it outside. For just a second, I felt like I would be able to get all of them to safety like that. I knelt down to grab another Pokémon, a baby Eevee, and as soon as I stood up I felt it being knocked out of my arms.

 

The first thing I noticed was the noise.

That may seem like a trivial thing to notice, considering everything out that was happening, but trust me when I say that it was the first thing I noticed for a reason. Sound, in case you didn’t know, is measured in decibels. A normal human conversation takes place at around sixty decibels. Anything over eighty-five is likely to damage your hearing if you listen to it regularly for long periods of time, and anything over one hundred and twenty can cause immediate damage and pain.

It’s virtually impossible to be completely sure exactly how loud it was when all of those Voltorb used Explosion at the same time, but I can be confident that it was significantly louder than the one hundred and fifty decibels that accompanies a gunshot. 

The second thing I noticed was the light.

Not the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, so to speak, but the literal light, the orangeish one that came as a result of the explosions. I’m not entirely sure if my eyes were open or closed at the time and I’m not sure that it would have made a difference, because I know that shutting my eyes wouldn’t be enough to block out a light like that. It was blinding, all-encompassing, inescapable.

The third thing I noticed was that I couldn’t breathe.

I forced my eyes open and realized that the light and noise from the explosion had faded, though my ears were still ringing. I realized I was underwater -- the force had knocked me into the lake in the middle of Sootopolis. I tried to use what little swimming ability I had to get to the surface but my body refused to move in the ways my brain ordered it to.

I was about to give up hope before I saw the Milotic.

It raced towards me, and before my brain had time to think that it belonged to Wallace it was underneath me and my arms were around its neck. It raced upwards and before I knew it I was above the water. I gasped for air, dimly aware that I could feel hands on my shoulders, dragging me onto the land.

The next thing I knew Wallace was kneeling over me.

I knew they were talking, but my ears were ringing too badly to possibly have a hope of making out what they were trying to say. Eventually, they must have given up on getting a verbal response from me, because they stood up and gestured for somebody to come towards them. 

As the ringing in my ears started to fade, I was finally able to make out what they were saying:  _ “Juan!  _ He’s hurt! Get over here!”

Juan ran into view and within seconds the two were kneeling over me. “Is he okay?” asked Juan.

“Does he  _ look  _ okay?!” responded Wallace in an annoyed tone. “Oh shit, he’s bleeding.”

They moved a hand to my left side and instantly I felt pain where they had touched. I screamed aloud and they quickly withdrew their hand, staring at me with concerned eyes. “Steven?” they asked gently. “Can you hear me?”

All of a sudden speech seemed like an impossible task as my brain refused to translate thoughts into words. I gave a pathetic grunt in an attempt to let them know I was listening, and they seemed to take it as an answer from the sigh of relief they gave. 

“Juan?” they asked uncertainly. “Do you know what to do?”

“Well,” answered Juan. “in normal circumstances, we would be getting him to a hospital.”

“What about  _ these  _ circumstances?!”

“We need to get him somewhere safe before we can do anything.”

Wallace bit their lip. “Even if it is safe to fly him with his injuries, Team Rocket might start shooting at us in the air.”

“There’s no way we can take him through the water.”

Wallace looked at Juan, then at me, and I think that was the moment when they made their decision.

They gently placed one arm under my upper back and the other under my knees. Slowly, they lifted me up, and I winced as I felt their hands on the injuries I had sustained during the explosion. They turned to Juan. “Cover me,” they said hurriedly. “I have an idea.”


	5. Chapter 5

I closed my eyes as Wallace ran with me in their arms, only dimly aware of the motion caused by their steps. After a while, they paused, panting with the effort of carrying me and running. “Steven?” they finally asked. 

“Y...Yeah…?”

“Do you think you can hold your breath for a few seconds? Just so you don’t drown while I carry you?”

I nodded weakly and took in a deep breath, the lack of pain in my chest assuring me that, at the very least, my ribs weren’t broken. Within seconds I felt myself being submerged by water and I instinctively gripped Wallace’s arm as they carried me. Soon we were out of the water and I finally exhaled. Wallace took a few deep breaths, then gently lowered me to the ground.

I opened my eyes. We seemed to be in a cave of some sort. Wallace was standing over me. 

“Where are we?” I questioned weakly.

They sat down next to me. “How much do you know about the Cave of Origin?”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop trying to be mysterious. Can’t talk much right now. Just explain.”

“Sorry. Anyway, in the Cave of Origin, at the bottom, there’s a secret tunnel that leads to the Sky Pillar, but only Sootopolitan Lorekeepers are allowed to know about it. The tunnel only opens itself to Sootopolitans in times of great peril. Team Rocket won’t be able to follow us here.”

I blinked. “So… we’re in Sky Pillar?”

“No, we’re still in the tunnel. There’s no way we could have gotten you all the way to the Sky Pillar.” 

They leaned towards me, starting to unbutton my waistcoat. “S-Stop!” I yelped.

They shook their head. “You’re bleeding. I need to see how bad it is. Stay still.”

I reluctantly remained still as they unbuttoned my waistcoat and then my undershirt. “Oh fuck…”

“What?” I asked nervously.

They ignored me, reaching over and pulling my jacket off. They threw it aside, taking off my waistcoat and undershirt before I could protest. They stuffed the fabric into a wad and pressed it against my left side, hard. I flinched and tried to pull away from their touch but my body refused to obey. “Stop!” I yelped. “You’re hurting me!”

“I’m stopping you from bleeding out!” they snapped. “Are you delusional from blood loss?!”

“But it  _ hurts!” _

“I’m not letting you bleed to death!” They sighed. “I’m sorry, Steven, but… I have to do this. It’s for your own good.”

“Fine,” I muttered, slumping down on the rock floor. They continued to put pressure on my wound and I grimaced. “Is it bad?”

“Yes. Try to stay still. Running into that Pokémon Centre was the most foolish decision you’ve ever made. It’s a miracle you’re even alive. Where else are you hurt?”

“I don’t know…” I groaned; it was impossible to even pinpoint exactly which body parts were hurting, let alone which parts were seriously injured and which were just badly bruised.

“Okay, just stay still.” They groaned. “Come on, Wallace, think! What would Juan do in this situation?”

“What  _ is  _ Juan doing?” I asked. 

“I don’t know! I just told him to cover me! He does not even know we’re here! Gah… wait, you had a first aid kit in your bag, didn’t you?”

“Yes, in the bag I lost in the explosion.”

“Shit, just… Stay calm, okay? I think the bleeding’s slowing down.”

I nodded, and we stayed there in silence for a few minutes before they finally muttered, “Okay, I just need to see how it’s doing…”

They gently eased the pressure they had been applying on my left side, pulling away my shirt and waistcoat. They gave a sigh of relief. “It’s not as severe as I thought… I just saw that you were bleeding and started panicking. How does it feel?”

“Painful.”

“I can imagine. How badly does it hurt?”

“I don’t know.”

“How bad is it on a scale of one to ten?”

I stared at them in confusion. I never did fully understand the idea of rating pain on a scale of one to ten. It probably seems like a normal question to you, but to me, they might as well have asked what color the pain was, or whether it was Steel-type or Water-type. Pain does not come in numbers, and trying to assign numbers to it never made sense to me. I have some basic idea that higher numbers were supposed to mean more severe pain, but that is meaningless to me without a proper baseline of what a one and a ten feel like with which to measure it. I had seen one good online guide to rating pain that I had made a mental note of in case I needed to see a doctor, but it was mostly based on how much the pain interferes with daily activities. Considering the fact that I was being asked this question around an hour, if that, after the pain initially started, and that my “daily life” for the past few days has primarily involved sitting in a cave, this obviously wasn’t much help.

“I don’t know,” I finally conceded.

Wallace huffed. “Well, now you’re just being difficult.”

I rolled my eyes. “You sound like my mother.”

“Sorry. Is it just your side that’s seriously hurt? Considering that you were in an explosion, it seems unlikely that that would be all.”

“I don’t know,” I said for the third time, growing increasingly aware that Wallace would think I was just being difficult. “I’m bruised all over and I can’t tell what’s serious. Does that make sense?”

“It makes just as much sense as your jacket,” they replied, which for us was code for “I don’t think it makes any sense whatsoever, but I understand that our brains work differently and I’m going to assume it makes perfectly reasonable sense to you”. 

“My jacket,” I muttered to myself, suddenly remembering it. “Where is it?”

They looked around, then reached over and grabbed my jacket, handing it to me. “Thanks,” I mumbled as I put it on.

“So your arms are okay?” they asked in a concerned tone as they saw me wearing it with no problems. I nodded and they sighed in relief. “Okay… Look, I can’t stay down here for long, Juan does not know where I am and there’s no signal down here to call him. If your cut starts bleeding again then put pressure on it. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”


	6. Chapter 6

To be fair, I can’t be sure of what exactly was going on in Sootopolis while I was in this tunnel. For all I know, Wallace was fighting for their life the whole time. But I still can’t help but feel annoyed that after saying they’d be back as soon as they could, they left me waiting until the next day.

“Sorry about the delay,” they explained. “I found your backpack in the water. I left most of your stuff in Sootopolis, but I brought food.”

I hadn’t gotten a chance to eat breakfast before Team Rocket attacked the previous day, so I was getting close to having gone a full forty-eight hours since I last ate. Naturally, I was starving. The food was nothing special, mostly just plain bread, but I took it gratefully. “Thanks,” I murmured. 

“It’s fine. How are you feeling?”

“Wallace, I’ve been in a cave for the past twenty-four hours and I’m injured. How do you think I feel?”

“Touché. Have you slept?”

“I’ve tried.” I had tried to sleep after Wallace had left, figuring that I would need to rest properly if I wanted my injuries to heal, but between the pain and the rock floor, it was virtually impossible. “I think I got maybe half an hour of sleep?”

“I suppose I’m lucky, then. I got four hours last night while Juan was covering me. At least tell me your cut’s getting better?” 

“Well, it hasn’t been bleeding, so… Yes?”

They sighed. “It’s a good thing you had the sense to get a waterproof bag, Steven.” They reached into my Skarmory-themed backpack, and pulled out my first aid kit.

“Now, I know you know more about this sort of thing than I do, so I might need you to help me,” they explained as they opened it. “Right, I’m guessing this won’t be something I can patch up with a few band-aids?”

“Of course not.” I sighed. “I’m going to have to give you instructions the whole time, aren’t I?”

“I’m afraid so. So, how do I start?”

I instructed them through the surprisingly complicated (to them, at least) process of bandaging my wound and they looked at their handiwork with a proud grin. “Impressive?”

“No…” I groaned. “You’re supposed to try to make it  _ less  _ painful.”

“Don’t I at least get points for trying?”

“You can have all the points in the world if you tell me you also brought painkillers.”

“Do you think I had time to get them?! I’ve spent the last day and a half switching between fighting for my life and trying to help you.”

“One day I’m going to kill you.”

“You’re welcome. Do you have any other injuries?”

“I don’t know…” I groaned. “My ankle really hurts…”

“Which one?”

I hesitated. They glared at me. “Which ankle, Steven?”

I sighed in defeat. “Left.”

They rolled their eyes at my reluctance, moving down and starting to slide my shoe off of my injured foot. I whimpered in pain and they sighed. “Steven, you know I have to do this. I’m trying to help you but you’re making it difficult.”

“Just do it.”

They nodded, proceeding to take my shoe off despite my whimpers of protest. “Shit…” they breathed. “It’s really swollen. I think it’s broken. What do I do?”

“Do I have to think of everything?!”

“Well, it’s hardly as if I know what to do.”

“Doesn’t Juan know this stuff?!”

“Well, Juan’s not here, is he?”

“Then  _ get  _ him!”

“I tried to convince him to come but Sootopolitans aren’t supposed to come in here unless it’s life-or-death.”

_ “You’re  _ in here!”

“Well, technically it says no man or woman of Sootopolis, and I’m not exactly a man or a woman, so…”

I groaned. “If you fuck this up and make it worse, I’m going to kick you in the face.”

“I’m willing to take that risk. So, what do I do?”

I sat up. “We’re going to need something straight and sturdy, like a stick or a ruler.”

“I can probably get a few sticks from Sootopolis.”

“Alright. Make sure they're really strong. If you can bend them, they're not strong enough.”

They nodded. “I'll be right back,” they said before leaving.


	7. Chapter 7

It was around two hours before Wallace returned carrying a large stick. “Right,” they asked. “What else do we need?”

“We’ll need some fabric but we can use my clothes for that. I think that’s it.”

“Right.” They sat down next to me. “So, what do I do?” 

“You are incredibly underqualified to do this and you know it.”

“I’m the most qualified person here. Just tell me what to do.”

I sighed. “Alright. You have to tie the stick to my leg to keep it from moving.”

“That does not seem that hard. I can do that.”

“The hard part,” I said through gritted teeth. “Is the part where you do it without making me kick you in the face.”

“Okay, I’ll be careful.”

“You’d better be.”

They started working on the splint and immediately I hissed in pain. “Sorry!” they said hurriedly. “I’m trying to be careful!”

“It doesn’t  _ feel  _ like you’re trying!”

“Trust me, I am -- Shit! Sorry!”

_ “Fuck you!” _

“Okay, calm down, I’m trying to --”

_ “You son of a bitch!” _

“There’s no need for language like that --”

_ “You offspring of a bitch!” _

I’ll spare you the details, but let me assure you that it involved a  _ lot  _ of swearing and screaming.

When they were finally done and I had apologized for the numerous things I screamed at them in pain and anger, they thankfully spared me the annoyance of having to listen to them brag about their amazing job. They sighed. “I’d better be heading back now, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”

 

That was our routine for the next few days. Wallace would come into the tunnel once a day with food, stay with me for an hour or so to check that I was eating and that I was generally doing okay, and then they would have to leave to go back to Sootopolis. While they were gone I would try to sleep, usually fail at doing so, and generally wait for them to be back.

It was yesterday, my sixth day in the tunnel, that I finally managed to get a good nine hours of sleep after Wallace left.

It probably would have been a lot more than nine hours -- considering how sleep deprived I was, I could have slept until Wallace arrived the next day -- if I hadn’t woken up screaming.

The cut in my left side was throbbing badly and instantly I knew something was wrong. By instinct, I screamed for Wallace to come and help me, but of course, there was no way they could hear me. As soon as I realized this I decided I would have to get out and find them. I struggled to stand up, and the pain from my wound was so severe that I didn’t remember one of my ankles was broken until it refused to take my weight and I collapsed on the cave floor.

“F-Fuck!” I stammered.  _ “Wallace!” _

Deep in my heart, I knew there was no way they would ever hear me. I just had to wait it out until they came.

 

When they finally arrived here earlier today, they immediately sat down next to me. “Steven? What’s wrong?”

I was sobbing hysterically, my whole body shaking badly with the pain. “S...Something’s wrong…”

“Steven, what’s wrong? Is it your cut?” 

I nodded weakly. “It got worse…”

“Shit…”

They started to unwrap the bandage around my torso and I screamed in pain as I felt the open air touching my wound, screwing my eyes shut so I wouldn’t have to see how bad it was. They looked at it for a few seconds and let out a string of ancient Sootopolian curse words. They stood up. “I’m getting Juan. I’ll be right back.”

This time they really meant it; it was only half an hour before they returned. “Juan’s on his way. We’ll figure out a plan when he gets here.”

I nodded weakly as they put a reassuring arm around my neck. “Shh, don’t cry, Steven, it’s going to be okay, Juan’s coming, deep breaths…”

It seemed like an eternity before Juan got here.

When he finally arrived, he immediately started examining the wound, ignoring my screams of protest. In a desperate attempt to distract myself from the pain I ran through the events of the last several days in my mind, as though I was preparing how to explain it to somebody who had no concept of who Team Rocket was. 

That’s what I’ve been doing up until now.

And I seem to have run out of memories to replay.

It’s time to face what’s happening  _ now. _

 

Wallace has me pulled into a hug and I’m sobbing into their chest. Juan is trying to get a proper look at the wound without hurting me too badly but even touching the uninjured skin around the cut is unbearable. At last, he stops. “It’s bad.”

_ “I know!”  _ I scream, and it does not sound nearly as threatening as I intended. “Please, just make it stop!”

“Calm yourself,” says Juan coolly. “I have a plan. Wallace, pick him up.”

They do so, taking care not to hurt me as they gently scoop me up. “What are we going to do with him?”

I can’t help but resent the way the two are talking about me like I’m not in the room while I’m in pain. It’s a feeling I know all too well.

I finally look over at Juan, who has a determined look on his face.

“Wallace,” he asks. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Really? Do you promise to trust me throughout this plan, even if it may seem foolish and insane at best?”

They hesitate. “...Yes. I trust you. If it will help him, I’ll do whatever you say. Just tell me what to do.”

“Alright then.” He takes a step forward. “We’re going to the Sky Pillar.”


	8. Chapter 8

Technically speaking, Wallace shouldn’t be the Gym Leader of Sootopolis City.

It’s not that they’re in anyway underqualified, because I know for certain that they are, if anything,  _ overqualified --  _ after all, they did manage to be the Champion of Hoenn for a while before they stepped down and gave me back the title. It’s simply that, in all the research on Sootopolitan culture I’ve done, I’ve discovered that the “Gym” of Sootopolis used to go by a different name.

It wasn’t always a Gym, but instead, it was previously a Sootopolian word that roughly translates in Kantonese to “Strength Proof”. Basically, it was designed for young Pokémon Trainers to test how strong they were against the “Prover”, who was always a very strong Trainer.

When the colonization happened, Sootopolis was heavily pressured to do away with their cultural buildings and instead make a Gym in order to be properly recognized by the Hoenn government. Rather than destroy the “Strength Proof”, they renovated it into a Gym that the League would approve of. As a result of this bit of history, the Sootopolis Gym has many qualities that are not present in other Hoennian Gyms.

One of these is that the puzzle of stepping on every part of the ice floor exactly once has remained the same since it was adapted from the “Strength Proof” to make it safer to fit with League regulations, whilst most Gym puzzles change with every Gym Leader. Another is that instead of the Gym Leader being chosen and hired by the League, it is passed down from parent to child, so that it would forever remain in the care of the family who first turned it into a Gym.

Juan is in this family; he inherited the Gym from his mother.

Wallace is not.

Juan is childless and unmarried, so I suppose it makes sense for him to give it to his personal pupil rather than leaving it to the League to decide, but it’s still odd.

I think about this as Wallace carries me through the tunnel. It’s better than thinking about how much pain I’m in.

 

“Steven, we’re here.”

“Here” is defined as where we currently are, and the statement is therefore redundant and meaningless, but I open my eyes regardless. I can see the tower that is the Sky Pillar, which means we must be on the island. “What now?” asks Wallace, looking at Juan.

Juan hesitates. “You said you would trust me throughout this entire plan?”

“Of course, and I promise that no matter how foolish it seems, I will continue to trust you.”

“Alright. Now that that has been confirmed, how would you react if I said that we’re waiting for somebody to come and assist us, and that I told them to meet us here?”

“I’d feel relieved and thankful. Why, is that the case?”

He pauses. “Alright, how would you react if I told you the person that’s coming to help us is my insane Draconid friend who is secretly my half-sister and who saved the world from a meteorite three years ago?”

Wallace is apparently unaware of how rude it is to shrug when you’re carrying someone in your arms, because I feel a jolt in my body as their shoulders move. “I don’t know. Why, is that the sort of thing you’re likely to say?”

Juan sighs. “I assume it is best to simply wait for her to arrive. Perhaps by then, you will have processed the information. You should probably help Steven get comfortable.”

They nod, gently lowering me onto the ground and allowing me to rest my head in their lap as they sit down. I try to distract myself from my wound by focusing on what Juan just said. To be honest, I had always suspected that Juan wasn’t fully Sootopolitan. Perhaps it’s a result of my Rustboro upbringing, which would try to be supportive of indigenous Hoennian cultures but often spread misinformation and stereotypes, but as far as I know, the “typical” Sootopolitan has turquoise hair, like Wallace and Lisia do. Juan has charcoal-colored hair with white streaks, which was odd, but as he has the typical Sootopolitan blue eyes and my autistic face-blind brain couldn’t make out facial features of different ethnic groups to save my life, I assumed having non-turquoise hair and being fully Sootopolitan was simply possible but rare, or that he had dyed it.

Hang on.

He said that his Draconid half-sister saved the world from a meteorite three years ago.

That can only mean one person.

_ “Zinnia!”  _ I exclaim in surprise.

“Oh, you know her?” Juan asks casually. 

“Wait a second,” protests Wallace. “Are you telling me that  _ Zinnia  _ is your half-sister?!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

_ “What?! _ Juan, I always knew you were half Draconid, but this is just ridiculous. What, are you going to tell me you’re also secretly related to the Kalos Champion?!”

“Of course not. If I was then I probably wouldn't have had to fake my own death to leave Kalos.”

“What the  _ fuck?!”  _ chokes Wallace, perfectly capturing my feelings on the revelation. 

“I just told you. Now calm down, she's coming.”

I look up and sure enough, there’s a Salamence coming towards us. It lands next to us and a familiar woman steps onto the ground. “Hey, guys! Long time no see!”

“Fuck off,” mutters Wallace under their breath, quiet enough that only I can hear. Louder, they say clearly, “Somebody ought to tell me what this plan is before anybody starts doing anything. This is my fiancé, after all.”

“The Draconids happen to be very skilled in the practice of healing,” explains Juan. “and since Zinnia here owes me a favor, I decided to call upon her for help.”

“Yeah, what he said,” says Zinnia. She reaches into her pocket and grabs a Poké Ball. Carelessly she throws it into the air and it splits open to reveal an oddly familiar-looking Gallade. I stare at it. “I thought you were a Dragon-type user. Where did you get that?”

“Eh, finders keepers.”

Juan sighs aloud. “Did you, by any chance, “find” it in somebody else’s hands and fight them to get it?”

“Ugh, I’ll give it back to him when we’re done.” She turns to me. “Geez, you look fucked up.”

“Thanks,” I say, and it does not come out as sarcastic as intended as I wince in pain.  _ Hurry up.  _

She notices my strained look. “Gosh, you’re just as impatient as you were when we were doing the whole meteor thing.”

“Zinnia, please,” says Juan, burying his head in his hand in frustration. “Let’s not delay this any further.”

“Ugh, fine, I’ll do it already. Warning, though, Steven, it’s probably going to feel all weird and tingly, you know? Also, you might faint. Gallade, use Heal Pulse!”

 

I wake up to find that Zinnia is standing over me and the pain in my side has gone. She sees me open my eyes and sighs in relief. “Phew, getting worried there. People normally aren’t out for more than a couple seconds. Does your ankle hurt?”

“No,” I answer.

“Then I guess I’d better take this shitty ass splint off.”

Wallace stutters uselessly in an attempt to say something in protest, then falls silent, pouting. Zinnia carelessly tears the fabric off of my leg and does not seem to notice that it’s clearly part of my clothing. “Okay, try moving it around a little to see if it hurts.”

I do so and it feels fine. Satisfied, she moves onto the healed cut on my side. She pokes it and I flinch involuntarily. She frowns. “Shit, does it still hurt?”

“I… don’t know?” It’s a weak answer, I know. I can definitely feel  _ something  _ in my side where it had previously been throbbing, but it’s a sensation I don’t recognize and therefore lack words to describe. Not entirely painful but also not pleasant to deal with, like an itch, but it’s  _ not  _ an itch, because it feels different in a way I can’t explain.

She gives me a strange look, and sighs. “Okay, how do you feel overall?”

“I don’t know…”

She huffs. “Well, now you’re just being difficult.”

Wallace rolls their eyes. “You sound like my mother-in-law.”

“Slow down,” I say with a grin. “We’re not married yet. I feel sort of… tired, I guess? I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Yeah,” explains Zinnia. “You just did at least six days worth of healing in, like, ten seconds. I’d be more concerned if you weren’t tired. If I were you I wouldn’t walk for a day or two.”

Wallace huffs. “I feel it should be somebody else’s turn to carry him.”

“I could carry him,” volunteers Juan.

“Fuck off,” says Wallace. “He’s my fiancé.”

“Should we go back to Sootopolis?” I ask.

Juan shakes his head. “The Pokémon Centre and the Pokémart are completely destroyed, and the Gym is badly damaged. It's completely hopeless.

Wallace glared. “What, so are you suggesting we just  _ give up?” _

“Nobody said anything about giving up. I'm suggesting that we need to rethink our current plan.”

“And do you have any suggestions for a new plan?”


End file.
